As per usual, U.S. audiences will finally be able to get their eyeballs on a Ben Wheatley film months after it premiered in his U.K. homeland - and this is a flick that your retinas might never recover from. A Field in England is yet another example of Wheatley’s excessive talent behind the camera, and a few new promotional stills have been released to back that assertion up. The psychedelic alternate poster seen above should also put you in the right mindset, as this is a movie much more concerned with atmosphere, tone and visual splendor rather than a traditional three-act narrative. Simply put, this isn’t for everyone.
It’s a wonderfully moody mental exercise for audiences who don’t mind taking a black-and-white journey to 17th century England in the middle of the English Civil War. The film follows an alchemist’s assistant named Whitehead (Reece Shearsmith) who tags along with a few other war deserters in searching for a safe and battle-free setting. They soon come across an Irishman named O’Neill (Michael Smiley), whom Whitehead was tasked with bringing to justice for theft. Instead, O’Neill asserts leadership and forces the men to go on a treasure hunt with him in the middle of a strange field. Insert a bunch of dark wit and a pile of mushrooms and you’ve got a film that stands alone in its surreal originality, feeling less like a film and more like a dream you have trouble remembering.
Take a look at four of the stills, the rest of which you can find at Bloody Disgusting. Each of them could be framed and hung on a wall, and if you don’t agree with me, can you at least come and help me put them up at my house?
Those last two take place after Whitehead has chowed down on the shrooms to help him find the treasure. What viewers will find is possible epilepsy. It isn’t as insufferably tense as Kill List or as satirically violent as Sightseers, but A Field in England is the Wheatley movie that film geeks will be talking about for years to come. Drafthouse Films is giving it a VOD release and limited theatrical run starting February 7th. Drink a fifth of cough syrup and check out the trailer below.
